Some places just hit you so hard you know you will remember them for the rest of your life. This was one a kind experience I've had in Kampong Phluk, Cambodia. It makes you reconsider all of your first-world problems and become a little more humble about yourself, and this might sound pompous but I can assure you that it's true.
So what led us to this peculiar place - we left Bangkok about 1am and drove all night to our next destination which was Siem Reap in Cambodia. We had to leave the coach by the border crossing in Poipet to do all the formalities in the immigration office and walk into Cambodia by foot. That's the custom. The coach picked us up and drove on to Siem Reap.
Siem Reap is a small in northwestern Cambodia of about 140 000 inhabitants, it's the fourth largest city in the country. Frankly, it's not big at all but it has a super convinient location for tourist excursions as it lies between the massive temple complex Angkor Wat and the lake Tonle Sap. We wanted to see both so obviously we booked one night in a hostel in Siem Reap.
Cambodian cities were exactly the picture I imagined when I thought of southeast Asia. Small colourful houses with lots of tropical plants cramped on streets with a bunch of wires hanging from the lampposts. All on red soil, it's dust billowing after every vehicle.
Kampong Phluk is one of the floating villages by the lake. Our hostel helped us with booking a tour to this remote place, going there on our own account would be much more expensive and pretty problematic.
We were driven by a minibus to a boat terminal, our tour then boarded a boat which we had for ourselves. Immediately after departing our tour guide encouraged us to climb up to the roof of the boat and we stayed there for the rest of the journey. The views were amazing. Tonle Sap is a peculiar lake, during the wet season its level increases by a few meters up flooding the vast plains nearby. Just take a closer look, you can see that the trees are sticking out from the water halfway up. The floating village's houses are built on tall stilts which are visible when the water is low. The photos are taken in the wet season.
As we entered the village with a few other boats the villagers either stared at us or ignored us and continued with their activities. They are used to tourists, I presume. The children played at the porches of the houses, swam in the lake or helped with the works. Most of them were attracted by the newcomers, they followed us and eagerly posed to the cameras to have their photos takes.
In the centre there's a piece of high ground that resists the floods on which a colourful buddhist temple and monastry were build.
We also took a cruise that was a much more personal experience. We boarded small unstable boats, 2 people each. Every boat was steered by a middle aged woman sitting on the front and a child in the back that helped to row. At first we were taken to a floating market selling food, snacks, office supplies and through the half-flooded jungle.
Our tour's finalle was watching the sunset over the surface of Tonle Sap. The lake was so vast, it felt more as if it was a waveless sea. It kind of took my breath away.
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